wills

Hi Everybody,
Just wanted to say thank you to everyone who helped me plan our vacation. We had a great time and I used all of the generous info given to me here. Colokid's info on car rental/driving and Virginia's on Tulum and Xel Ha.

We never made it to Coba, that and Akumal will be another trip. I really like Mexico!

More later!

colokid

Glad you had a great time...it's a pleasure to share info and I never get tired of talking about Playa. Now you have something to plan for on your next trip. Let us know what you did this time around.

wills

Trip Report:
Chichen Itza
Dreams Tulum
Tulum Ruins

We took an early flight from Philadelphia to Cancun. Right before we left I turned on my newly charged cell phone just to check for messages. Lo and behold there was one, left at 9:40pm the previous evening by the local Cancun car rental agency, saying that the minivan that I was supposed to pick up in 5 hours was broken and that they had nothing else for me. These things happen, my only quarrel is that they didn't leave a return phone number (and my cell phone didn't register one) for me to ask for any other options. Lesson learned, use the big boys for car rentals. As it happened I needn't have worried, the Thrifty desk at Cancun airport could not have been nicer and set me up for a minivan. Their staff at Cancun's site was very helpful, and in fact gave me a better price. I will definitely call Thrifty first next time.
Armed with their maps and Colokid's advisements I resolved to drive like a little old lady and make my way to Chichen Itza. We made a couple of wrong turns, found the Cuota and settled in for the three hour drive to Chichen Itza. Along the way we stopped in Vallodolid for lunch. Vallodolid is a nice little town. We had a great lunch at a restaurant off the town square, near the church. I tried the chicken wrapped in banana peels and the lime soup. It was one of our best of many good meals. We tried to go see the inside of the big church, but it was afternoon and the church would not reopen until four pm. A young boy had said something to me when I parked the minivan, I didn't realize what it was until later when he told me in broken English that he "watched your car lady". I found that charming and gave him a couple of dollars.

We stayed at the Dolores Alba that evening. I had gotten the little hotel from Trip Advisor. The reviews were spot on, it is a very BASIC hotel, with small but clean rooms and pretty grounds. The A/C works very well and their breakfast in the morning was lovely. My only problem with them is their towels. They gave us two for a family of four, reluctantly parted with two more and they are the size of a hand towel. This hotel is adequate for one night, but I would not stay there any longer.

We attended the evening light show at Chichen Itza which is worth going to, although heed the warning, get the translated tape when you get your tickets. (if you don't speak good Spanish) I thought there was another opportunity to get it, and there isn't. Actually, when you arrive there is a crowd of ebullient Mexicans and tourists waiting to enter at 8pm. When they do let you in you observe many of the front of the liners running. You wonder why and it's readily apparent when you get to the ruin, there are seats set up for the show that are now full of people who know! We didn't mind standing and the show is about 45-1hr long. Really regretted not getting the translation though! (stupid and jet lagged from a 4am wakeup). The ticket you buy, you keep and then pay another 45 pesos in the morning for entry to the ruins. Being really tired, I braced myself for a long line to get out of the ruin, but I was happily surprised. Apparently a lot of the people came on buses, and we drove right out of there. We were really lucky the next morning. We arose early and got to the ruins at 8am. It was raining, but that turned out to be a blessing, as the temperature was nice and cool because of it. They sell plastic rain ponchos and we got them for the kids. Our guide was absolutely wonderful. Guides are now $60 and we tipped him beyond that. He spent 2.5 hours with us.

We checked out of Dolores Alba, their staff is really nice. They gave us good directions to Tulum.

This was a great day and I am glad we saw Chichen Itza this way. We left at about 11:15 and the tour buses had arrived en masse.

wills

Our drive to Tulum was more interesting than the drive to Chichen Itza on the Cuota, where you get to look at concrete or jungle, and that's about it. Taking the advice of the nice young man at Dolores Alba we took the "free road" to Tulum. It takes you through many villages which our guide told us are inhabited by the descendents of the Mayans. I earned the nickname "Topes killer" with my obsessive braking at the hint of a tope. Topes are speed bumps, and they are marked with signs that look like black bumps. Sometimes. Sometimes they aren't there at all, and one must be observant! It's actually a clever idea, because you will never go over these things fast and they WILL slow you down. Usually at the big topes you will see the most vibrant shops, which is also clever, given that you do slow down. We chuckled, since just like in the USA, once you leave one state, the next state's roads may or may not be better. The minute you leave New Jersey for Pennsylvania, you fall into a pothole, well the minute you leave Yucatan for Quintanaroo, the roads get worse. To be fair, it did look as though they were working on them. Along the way we marveled at how hard the Mexicans were working. You would see a sort of bicycle/trolley that they were loading up with fire wood, in the middle of a long highway with seemingly miles before anything in brutal heat. We arrived at Dreams, Tulum, our resort at about 2:15 in the afternoon. The nice gentlemen at Thrifty gave me a dropoff at a nearby resort for the minivan. I anticipated having to get a taxi back, but again I was impressed. Their kind staff offered to drive me back to Dreams. Really liked Thrifty!

I was very leery about driving in Mexico, but I am really glad that I did. This was my favorite part of the trip, where stopping for directions, shops, gas etc. all enabled me to meet real Mexicans and I encountered only kindness everywhere I went. Admittedly, I drove like a little old lady, staying within the speed limit. When the nice fellow from Thrifty drove me to Dreams I realized that although I always pulled to the right to let people pass me, the proper thing to do is to straddle the white line so you are half on the shoulder and half in the lane. This way people can pass you even if an oncoming car is close.

wills

Dreams, Tulum is a very nice resort. This resort unlike so many all inclusives has excellent food. There are about six restaurants and we found the food to be very good at all of them except the main buffet restaurant, the World Cafe. However we only had breakfast and lunch there. For whatever reason, the staff was not very good in that restaurant. Indifferent at best. At the other restaurants the presentation and staff were uniformly excellent. We were impressed. The beach is rocky, aquasox are highly recommended. Kids love the rock climbing wall and trampoline in the water. Be prepared to watch your children, there was an incident while we were there and a child was rescued by the guests. We upgraded to a junior suite and found it well worth it. I was glad that we had the opportunity. If anyone is going to this resort in high season, I recommend considering reserving a junior suite in advance. The garden view rooms looked fine from the outside, they were smaller with smaller balconies, and they are farther from the beach. They do have hammocks though, and the junior suites do not. My children used the kids club one day, and had a great time. They have a rock climbing wall and bungee jumping which were highlights of this trip for my kids. In the evening they have a movie on the beach with popcorn, they have nightly shows which we did go to and enjoyed. We really enjoyed this resort. The only negative, besides the world cafe, is their maid service. Without belaboring it, we have been to three other Caribbean resorts and different parts of the world and this is the worst maid service I have ever received. We give a big tip the first day and then re-evaluate as we go. It made no difference. The best day was the one where I got fed up and left nothing. I tipped well the following day and the service was poor. Go figure. I don't let that kind of stuff ruin my vacation, but it was annoying. We had to resort to hiding towels to ensure enough for a family of four. Not what I would anticipate compared to the other parts of the resort. Per this site, we used Cancun Valet to return to the airport and their service was excellent.

wills

While at Dreams we did two trips, Xel Ha and Tulum. With Virginia's kind info I scheduled Xel Ha for a Saturday, hoping that the cruise traffic would be absent. It was, and it was neat, because the clientele was largely Mexican families. We paid for all inclusive tickets, but the park judges a child on height, so it was necessary to pay extra for my son. No worries. My children swam with the dolphins and absolutely loved it. We bought the pictures and video. The video is $50 and the pictures were $60, it was a once in the lifetime thing. The snorkeling is great, and while the biggest fish are indeed under the bridge, the most colorful hug the rocks and the shore. I recommend wearing a rashguard to protect from the sun. The restaurants are okay. We had breakfast at our resort and were at Xel Ha at about 8:45. The Mexican families came earlier and had breakfast there. I think that might be the way to do it. I would return to Xel Ha. It is big and has a lot of fun things to do. We got great pictures of family members doing the rope climb (successfully!) but bypassed the big jump. I highly recommend the trip to Xel Ha.

The reason I selected our resort was for its proximity to Xel Ha and Tulum. Tulum ruins are beautiful. Children are free and adults are around 45 pesos (I forget). The beach there is lovely, although we did not stay to swim there. Tulum is a fortress and very intriguing to both my children. We arrived early at 8am and did the walk into the ruin since the bus wasn't running yet, it isn't far. It does get hot really fast so bring water!

Well, that's my trip report, I hope some of the info will be helpful to others. I certainly appreciate all of the kind help that I received here. I will check back for any questions. Happy Travels!

colokid

Sounds like it was a great experience made better because you took things in stride and were flexible...very important in this part of the world. You have some great memories and it sounds like more to come. Thanks for sharing.
Sue

wills

My pleasure Colokid! Thanks for all of your kind info.

CHRISTA7

Wills. Would you say the long drive from Cancun to Tulum is worth it? Can't decide on an all-inclusive in Tulum or Playcar, on a nice beach where you can walk is important. Colokid has provided me with info as well that has been greatly appreciated but I need more before we decide to spend 90 mins. on a bus from Cancun airport. Thanks.